Fundamina
Fundamina, A Journal of Legal History is published as the mouthpiece of the Southern African Society of Legal Historians.History
In 1983, when the Southern African Society of Legal Historians was founded, the publication of a journal of legal history was envisaged to further the aims of the Society and to encourage contact and co-operation between legal historians, legal historical societies and other interested organisations in South Africa and abroad.
The initial step in the realisation of this goal was the publication of a Newsletter, some ten years after the founding of the Society. This annual publication, which did not seek the status of a legal periodical, was renamed Bulletin in 1986. In 1992, the Bulletin was replaced by the first issue of Fundamina, a fully fledged journal of legal history.
In the preface to the first issue, the editors expressed the hope that it would “encourage contact and co-operation between legal historians”, stating that the “heterogeneous character of legal historians makes international contact and co-operation between legal historians a conditio sine qua non and the publication of an international legal history journal provides a vehicle to create and maintain these contacts”.
The words of the late Professor Robert Feenstra, the former honorary editor of Fundamina, confirmed this vision:
I speak on behalf of the European legal historians and especially those from the country which was the cradle of the Roman-Dutch law, when I express our happiness that the Southern African Society of Legal Historians has accomplished one of their main objectives, namely the publication of a legal journal.
I wholeheartedly endorse the objectives and aims of the editorial staff as stated in the preface. I say without fear of contradiction that many legal historians – in Europe and in other parts of the world – will support the new journal, not only through subscription but also through scientific contributions for publication. (Preface 1992 Fundamina at 2).
Today the interaction of South African legal historians and those from Europe, the United Kingdom and the Americas is underlined by the fact that many of the articles published in Fundamina are by non-South African scholars.
General Information
E-ISSN 2411-7870Fundamina is available on HeinOnline and Sabinet
Fundamina is accredited by the DHET.
Fundamina is indexed and abstracted in the Vlaamse Academisch Bibliografisch Bestand voor de Sociale en Humane Wetenschappen (VABB-SHW).
Fundamina publishes contributions in English, but contributions in other languages may be considered by the editorial board.
Contributions
Editorial information:Style guidelines for contributors may be found here.
All contributions to Fundamina should be sent to the Editor
info@legalhistory.org.za